Before
you continue, please take time to read Luke 24:13-35.
Disappointments. Yes, we all have been
there before, or maybe we’re experiencing it right now; that aching feeling of
dissatisfaction when our hopes, desires and expectations fail to come to pass[1].
When our prayers aren’t answered fast
enough; or when our prayers are given an unexpected answer; or when we’ve set
goals and made plans but it didn’t went the way you wanted them to be; or when
a business idea that didn’t work out; or when certain things in our life are
out of our control. If we’ve been through these things and more, then we can be
candidates for disappointment.
Jesus’ disciples also had their share of
disappointments, especially after Jesus’ crucifixion, death and resurrection.
Most of them must have been very disappointed that Jesus was not the Christ
they were expecting Him to be; a political Messiah who will deliver Israel from
the hands of the Roman Empire. We could see this in the case of two disciples, Cleopas
and his unnamed companion. Though these two weren’t part of the original 12,
but just the same, they were followers of Jesus. And like most of them they had
high hopes for this man. Until their world came crashing down when their only
hope was crucified, died, buried, had risen from the grave on the third day and
was nowhere to be found. With their hearts and hopes crushed they went out of
Jerusalem and took the seven mile trek to Emmaus.
Along the way, as the two disciples were
conversing, a stranger came to them and asked what they were talking about. They
confided to the stranger (who was actually Jesus in His glorified form) about
what had happened in Jerusalem. And from the tones of their conversation we
could see that they were downcast, disheartened and most have envied the other women
disciples who first found out that Jesus was alive. These are tall tale signs
that they were disappointed.
Like I said all of us go through
disappointments at one time or another. And if not handle carefully it can lead
to depression, discouragement (when we feel like giving-up), burn-out, anger
and even envy (feeling a sense of unfairness or injustice when we see others
succeed).
The best way to overcome these dreadful conditions is to change our
mindset and ask the Lord to help us see through the dark veil of disappointment.
And to help us with this, here are five
things we should remember when we feel disappointed.
Remember
that God is always with us.
When we get too caught up with our
disappointments we tend to focus on it too much that we sometimes feel a sense
of abandonment. Sometimes we ask ourselves “where is God in this situation of
our life?” But the truth is God has been, and always will be, by our side. Just like the two disciples. While they were wallowing over
how disappointed they were, they weren’t aware that Jesus was with them.
God absolutely knows what we’re going
through. He’s always with us, whether we are aware of His presence or not. He
has promised that He will never leave us nor forsake us (Joshua 1:5b). And He
is in control of our situation as long as we let Him take over.
In our time of disappointment, let us draw
near to God and find in His presence the strength and comfort that we need to
endure and persevere. He is closer than we think.
Remember
God’s promises and His word.
After the two disciples told the stranger of
what had happened in Jerusalem, the stranger rebuked them by saying how slow in
heart they were that they didn’t realize the real purpose why Christ had to suffer.
So He reminded them of Moses and all the Prophets and explained to them what
was said in all the Scriptures concerning the Christ.
When we’re disappointed, it’s also
important to go back and review God’s promises and His word because of two reasons:
- To renew our hope. (Romans 4:18-21)
Just like Abraham, he
hoped against all hope that God’s promise to him will come to pass, that he
will become the father of many nations. Even if the hope was very slim (because
he and his wife Sarah are both very old), he still held on to the promise. With
much faith and obedience from Abraham, God’s promise came to pass in the form
of Isaac. And from Isaac came a nation from the linage of Abraham, a nation
belonging to God. In which we are now a part of because we belong to Christ (Galatians
3:29). The Lord had proven that He is faithful in fulfilling His promise as
long as we believe and obey.
- To remind us of the real purpose behind God’s promises.
Sometimes we get too
sidetracked and too excited for the fulfillment God’s promises that our
intentions, expectations and interpretation to the promises are not aligned
with God’s absolute plan and purpose. In the case of the two disciples, they
had the wrong interpretation of God’s promise. They thought that the coming
Messiah was a political one, the savior of Israel who will deliver them from
the Roman Empire. But God’s plan was more than that. He sent His only Son, the Christ,
to be the Savior of the world. If the two disciples had realized this earlier they
could have saved themselves from a lot of disappointment.
There is a purpose to
every promise that God makes. God didn’t make a promise Abraham just to make
him rich and famous. He had a great purpose for that, and that is to make a
nation who will call Him their God.
So let us be careful in
interpreting God’s promises. Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to help us understand
the real purpose behind the promise.
Remember
what God did for you in the past. (Psalm 77:11-12)
When they reached Emmaus the two disciples
invited the stranger to stay with them for the night. While they were having
supper the stranger took some bread and broke it. And when the two disciples
saw this simple act, an act that they have witnessed many times before (feeding
of the five thousand and the last supper), their eyes were opened and they
remembered. It made them realized that the stranger was in fact Jesus.
When we remember what God did for us in the
past it gives us an assurance that if God has shown His goodness and
faithfulness to us before, He will surely show His goodness and faithfulness to
us today and in the future. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever
(Hebrew 13:8).
It can help if we could make a journal of
all our answered prayers and fulfilled promises, so that when we go through
disappointments we can look back and remember at what the Lord had done for us.
Remember
where you started. (Galatians 6:9)
When we get disappointed we can have a
tendency to give up. Sometimes we would feel like it’s all a fruitless effort.
We might as well pack our bags and go back to where we came from. In the case
of the two disciples, that could have been the reason why they left Jerusalem.
Their Rabbi was gone and missing, it seems meaningless to continue being with
the other disciples, why should they stay in Jerusalem? But after their
encounter with Jesus in Emmaus they had to go back to Jerusalem to tell the
other disciples that Jesus is truly alive!
Remembering where we started will help us
realize and remember the reason for why we started in the first place. It will inspire us to persevere
and continue what we are called to do.
We may have different reasons, but all in
all, the beginning and the end of what we are doing points to one reason, and
that’s none other than our love for God. He should be the primary reason for
everything we do. (Colossians 3:17)
Remember
to be thankful. (1 Thessalonians 5:18)
Being thankful, in spite of our
disappointments, is acknowledging that God is in control of every situation of
our life, whatever good or bad it may be. We can grow from these experiences
and we could learn to trust and depend on Him in everything (Proverbs 3:5-6).
Disappointments are times in our life when we could reflect upon our true purpose and to know more of God's true plan for us. It is also a time when we need to trust Him even more. It is when we need to take heart and press on, because despite of all
our failures, despite being overwhelmed by a troubled world, Jesus had overcome
for us. (John 16:33) And for that reason, we can see clearly that He can never
disappoint us.
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